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MORE ON THE ROYAL MINT'S PROCESS
Last week I wondered about the technology behind the Royal Mint's new anti-counterfeiting technology, iSIS. Ed Snible forwarded the following information. Thanks! The program cost 20 million pounds to develop. Be sure to watch the video.
-Editor
Ed writes: According to a two minute BBC video iSIS is a special material that can be added to the aRMour process which electroplates a 25 micro coating on coin blanks.
Actually, what I took from the video is that iSIS is a secret ingredient added to the alloy of the entire coin. They specifically say that it's not a coating and that "It's an ingredient that's throughout the alloy of the metal."
-Editor
To view the video, see: Royal Mint designs 'unique' property to beat fake coins (www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-26125297)
Ed adds: Adam Davis suggested on Stack Exchange that the coating is luminescent particles, as described in a 2011 patent by Authentix, Inc. Figure 3 of that patent shows a picture of randomly deposited particles phosphorizing. I speculate that the 'simple iSIS' detector merely checks for the existence of particles. The 'advanced iSIS' might record the shape and position of the particles. The shape and position of randomly deposited particles could be treated as a 'fingerprint' until wear causes the exposed particles to fall off and new ones to be exposed. In this way individual coins could be traced like a serial number, although it would be expensive and time-consuming to do so. To read the complete Stack Exchange article, see: How does the authentication in the new UK £1 coin work? (security.stackexchange.com/questions/53673/how-does-the-authentication-in-the-new-uk-1-coin-work) To read the complete patent, see: Metallic materials with embedded luminescent particles (www.google.com/patents/US20110305919)
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE ROYAL MINT'S ISIS ANTI-COUNTERFEITING SYSTEM
(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n12a21.html)
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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